Rajasthan Police Chargesheets Lynching Victim Pehlu Khan Posthumously

In a major blow to the investigation being carried out in the lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan, the Rajasthan Police have filed a chargesheet for smuggling cows for slaughter. Khan was killed on a busy highway in Rajasthan by a mob of self-proclaimed cow protectors.

In 2017, a small group of dairy farmers was driving up along the Jaipur-Delhi highway in Rajasthan with a few cows they had purchased at a cattle fair in Jaipur. Pehlu Khan and his sons, Irshad and Arif, were returning to their village Nuh in Haryana. The group was attacked in Behror tehsil in Alwar district, by over 200 gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes. According to reports and a video that went viral, Khan kept pleading to let them go and even produced paper work from the civic authorities that stated that the cows were purchased for milk production and not for slaughter. But the attackers tore up the documents and mercilessly beat the hapless men with sticks. The violence led to serious injuries to Khan and his companions, which subsequently led to his death two days later in a private hospital.

The latest chargesheet, in which Khan has been posthumously charged, was prepared on December 30 last year, days after the new Congress government came into power in Rajasthan, and was presented in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Behror on May 29 this year. The chargesheet, as per media reports, accuses Khan and his sons under Sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules.

The chargesheet also names the owner of the pick-up truck that was used for transporting the cattle on April 1, 2017, when the lynching took place near Behror.

Speaking to NewsClick, rights activist Harsh Mander said, “The first reaction for us is of disappointment with the Congress government, they had promised action on cow vigilantism however, they have failed to do anything in the case.” He added, “It becomes important to point out that Khan had produced evidence to show that he had bought the cows from a fair for milking purposes and not slaughter, he had certificates from Jaipur Municipal Corporation, if he had to buy a cow for slaughter it could have been purchased for about Rs. 5,000 easily, however, he bought a cow worth Rs. 50,000 for dairy purposes, the chargesheet against him is a clear example of the subversion of the criminal justice system.”

Before dying, Pehlu Khan, in a written statement, accused six members of Sangh parivar-affiliated organisations of the assault. “About 200 men stopped our pick-up truck at Behror flyover and started abusing and assaulting us. While assaulting, they were taking names – Om Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Navin Sharma, Sudheer Yadav and Rahul Saini – to refer to each other and saying that they are members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. They also warned that whoever passes through Behror with cows will be beaten up like this.”

Read Als: Mobocracy At Its Peak: After Pehlu, Akbar Khan Lynched in Rajasthan's Alwar

An FIR was registered against the six men under various sections of the Indian Penal Code: 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 308 (culpable homicide), 379 (theft) and 427 (destruction of property). Murder was added following Pehlu’s death.

Two First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed in the case -- one was against eight people who allegedly lynched the dairy farmer, and the other was against him and his sons for transporting cattle allegedly without the district collector's permission. The latest chargesheet was filed by the Rajasthan government in the second FIR. The case against Pehlu Khan will be closed as he has died, but it will continue against his sons. While, all the eight accused are out on bail and two of them are untraceable.

According to the chargesheet, all the six accused named by Pehlu were absconding and had a Rs 50,000 reward on each of them. However, they returned home after the clean chit was given by the CID. Previously, in September 2018, four key witnesses of the Pehlu Khan lynching case, including his two sons, Irshad and Aarif, were allegedly fired upon, while they were on their way to a court in Behror to submit their testimony.

Reacting to the chargesheet, Khan’s eldest son Irshad (25), who is named in it, said: “We lost our father in the attack by cow vigilantes and now we have been charged as cow smugglers. We had hoped that the new Congress government in Rajasthan will review and withdraw the case against us but now a chargesheet has been filed against us. We hoped for justice after the government change but that hasn’t happened.”

Also Read: Saga of Police ‘Inefficiency’ and ‘Cover-up’: How Cops are ‘Protecting’ the Murderers of Pehlu Khan

Khan’s lawyers and his sons have pointed out as to how the investigation was botched up in this case to shield members of the Sangh by tampering with evidence and weakening their case. 

Harsh Mandar added, “We have seen this trend in other cases of mob violence as well. Karvaan-e-Mohabbat travelled across the country and met victims, we could identify patterns of subversion in such cases and the weakening of evidence. It also goes on to state that because one is attacked in the name of cow, one is guilty.”